A PRICELESS collection of watercolours and drawings belonging to the Queen Mother is to go on display in the North-East for four months next year.

The 73 works, most of which were hung in Clarence House or the Royal Lodge at Windsor during her lifetime, are being loaned to the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

Museum officials were thrilled by the news yesterday, as this will be one of only four venues in the country permitted to show the collection.

The Queen Mother was a staunch supporter of the museum, which was founded more than a century ago by her ancestor, John Bowes.

She always made a point of visiting it when she holidayed in the area.

The exhibition is being divided into four sections, one of which shows the Queen Mother as a young woman. It records her marriage in 1923 and includes portraits of her daughters, princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

It also includes charcoal drawings by John Singer Sargent, which were a wedding gift.

Another section portrays the Queen Mother's royal homes in England and Scotland. The third section contains works from the 18th and 19th centuries.

They include paintings and drawings by Paul Sandby, Thomas Gainsborough and David Roberts. The final group is from the 20th Century, with paintings by Augustus John, Sir Hugh Casson and John Piper.

Several of the works were bought at auction, some during the Second World War at sales held to raise funds for the war effort. Others were gifts by the artists to the Queen Mother and a number were commissioned by her.

The exhibition will open in the museum on Saturday, May 19, and continue until September.

There were record attendances when a display of the Queen Mother's clothes was put on during the 1990s, and it is expected the paintings will also attract visitors. Vivien Reid, who will arrange the pictures in the museum, said: "It is because of the Queen Mother's connections here that we were chosen.

"This collection has not been shown in public before. It demonstrates what the Queen Mother's tastes and interests were, and I'm sure many people will be fascinated to see it."

The Queen Mother was patron of the Friends of the Museum.

The other three venues that will show the paintings are Buckingham Palace, Holyrood Palace and Norwich Castle Museum.